FPL's nuke cooling plan clears hurdle

 

Miami Herald - by Curtis Morgan
 
FPL intends to use wells tapping Biscayne Bay as a back-up supply of cooling water for its proposed addition of two new nuclear reactors at Turkey Point
Over the objections of Biscayne National Park managers and environmentalists, water managers on Thursday signed off on Florida Power & Light's plan to drill a network of coastal wells designed to tap Biscayne Bay as a back-up system for cooling two new nuclear reactors proposed for Turkey Point.
FPL intends to use some 90 million gallons a day of treated wastewater from Miami-Dade County as the primary source of cooling water for its controversial $12 billion to $18 billion expansion project at the sprawling plant, which sits along south Biscayne Bay a few miles from the park headquarters.
But the utility also wants to drill a series of "radial wells'' - named because they include up to a dozen shafts radiating out 900 feet from a central well, a design evoking bicycle spokes - that would be capable of drawing up to 125 million gallons a day of water through the porous limestone beneath the bay.
A report by the South Florida Water Management District noted "some concerns" the wells could potentially turn already too-salty coastal waters saltier, compromise Everglades restoration projects to restore fresh water flows to the bay and worsen salt-water intrusion that has already marched inland in South Miami-Dade and threatened drinking water supplies.
But the district's analysis, based on computer modeling supplied by FPL, also recommended approval of the wells - under the condition that the utility operate them no more than the "equivalent of 60 days" over a 12-month period and monitor impacts on sea grass. The proposal faces several more hurdles before final state approval.
Mark Lewis, superintendent of Biscayne National Park, urged the district's governing board to postpone the vote, saying the district had not consulted with park scientists as it had in past studies of Turkey Point's impacts on surrounding shallow waters, which are thick with sea grass beds and mangroves that serve as nurseries for an array of marine life.
According to FPL's computer modeling, 97 percent of the water collected by the wells would be salty bay water but Lewis called that work "suspect," saying the geologic zone where sea water meets the Biscayne Aquifer, source of much of Miami-Dade's drinking water, is not well understood. FPL and water managers, for instance, are still working to assess the role Turkey Point's existing cooling canal system has played in pushing salty water inland.
"We're betting the bank that the modeling works when all of our scientists say the modeling isn't designed for this and isn't really good in this region," Lewis said.
Environmentalists echoed Lewis, saying the complicated report on a well system untested in South Florida's porous limestone geology had been available for only a week. They also called a proposed monitoring plan toothless because it included no specific measures for FPL to scale back the wells or pursue another back-up source, such as the deep Floridan aquifer, if the wells prove more damaging than modeling predicts.
"The question is who is on the hook to deal with the impacts," said Kahlil Kettering, a Biscayne Bay analyst for the National Parks Conservation Association.
Laura Reynolds, executive director of the Tropical Audubon Society, questioned whether the wells were intended solely as a back-up, saying the 60-day language would potentially allow continuous low-level operation in a bay starved for freshwater.
Peter Robbins, a spokesman for FPL, said the wells were "absolutely a back-up system'' and the utility preferred to treated wastewater over salt water but needed the short-term back-up because of potential uncertainties over the quality or quantity of wastewater. He downplayed potential impacts to the Biscayne Aquifer, saying the modeling was "tremendously conservative'' and based on a scenario using wells as a full-time supply rather than the 60-day limit FPL has agreed to..
Juan Portuondo, a Miami businessman who serves on the governing board, said both FPL and the county had vested interests in making treated sewage work. Under state law, Miami-Dade has to find a way to reuse some 117 million gallons a day of sewage by 2025 that it now pumps up out to the Atlantic, he said. "It's the best solution for both.''
Board members briefly discussed postponing the vote but unanimously approved it after hearing the agency faced a Monday deadline for filing recommendations to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Other agencies, including Miami-Dade County, which also has questioned the wells, will file similar recommendations. An administrative judge is expected to issue a recommendation sometime next year. Final approval will go to Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet.
FPL hopes to secure its license from federal regulators for the two new reactors by June 2014. If the utility goes ahead with the project, the new reactors would be scheduled to go online in 2022 and 2023

     

Florida seeks big chunk of BP fines to boost restoration of Everglades

 

NewsOK.com (MCT Information Services) - by William E. Gibson
 
WASHINGTON - Everglades restoration backers are aiming to get a big piece of the billions of dollars of fines that oil giant BP is expected to pay for polluting the Gulf of Mexico and disrupting Florida's delicate ecology during the Deepwater Horizon spill of 2010.
BP's fines are expected to range from $5 billion to $21 billion, and most of the money would go toward restoring the marshes, fishing industry and oil-damaged businesses and resources along the Gulf Coast. But environmental leaders estimate that hundreds of millions of dollars may be devoted to ecological projects all the way down to South Florida.
They're not just dreaming.
Last month, Congress passed a bill that will steer 80 percent of any fine money to Florida and other Gulf Coast states. And while the Florida Legislature passed a law last year that says 75 percent of the state's share must be devoted to the oil-damaged counties along its northwest coast, the rest can be spent on ecological restoration elsewhere.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force last month that the BP money would provide significant funding for conservation and that he considers the Everglades "a great example for the work that we do for conservation and for jobs."
Big deal for Gulf's ecology
Salazar's encouraging words and the tantalizing prospect of a giant pot of restoration money prompted environmentalists to start drawing up proposals designed to buffer the coast from future oil spills and to clean and store water that now rushes out to sea. These proposals will focus on Florida's west coast but affect the entire Everglades watershed and potentially free up other federal and state money for projects in southern and central Florida.
The pie is potentially so huge that even a small slice would make a major impact on the re-plumbing work in the Everglades.
"This is really the largest source of funding for ecological restoration in the history of the world," said David White of St. Petersburg, director of the Gulf restoration campaign for the National Wildlife Federation. "This is a big deal for the ecology for the Gulf of Mexico and by extension the Everglades system, which is part of that ecology."
BP and its contractors are trying to settle a federal-court case in New Orleans accusing them of violating the Oil Pollution Act - which is guided by standards set by the Clean Water Act - when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in April 2010 and spewed nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf.
Fines under the law would amount to $1,300 per barrel if the companies are guilty of simple negligence - or $4,300 per barrel if they are guilty of gross negligence.
Environmentalists say a national commission co-chaired by former Florida U.S. Sen. Bob Graham that investigated the disaster essentially established gross negligence, prompting them to think the total fines will reach as high as $21 billion.
A sweeping transportation bill passed by Congress on June 29 included legislation known as The Restore Act, which says 80 percent of BP's eventual fine payments must go to the five Gulf states - Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas - most affected by the spill.
The Restore Act also established a formula for distributing the money:
* Pot One: 35 percent - as much as $7.35 billion - to be divided equally among the Gulf states, or 7 percent (nearly $1.5 billion) for each. The 2011 Florida law says 75 percent of the state's share of this pot - $1.1 billion - must go to eight hard-hit Gulf counties, and 25 percent can go to the rest, about $367 million.
* Pot Two: 30 percent - up to $6.3 billion - to be distributed by a federal-state ecosystem restoration council comprised of six federal members and five state members.
* Pot Three: 30 percent to pay for state proposals for environmental restoration and economic recovery work. These plans must be approved by the federal-state council.
* Pot Four: 5 percent - more than $1 billion - to ecosystem monitoring and fisheries work administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and scientific Centers of Excellence in each Gulf state.
Money for South or Central Florida projects potentially could come from any of these pots. The council is expected to give priority to plans that promise lasting protection for the Gulf and coastline against future spills. 

 

     

  

 

South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force

 

Integrated Calendar

 

Task Force, Working Group (WG), & Science Coordination Group (SCG)

Biscayne Bay Regional Restoration Coordination Team (BBRRCT)

Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP)

CEPP Project Delivery Team (PDT)

South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) Governing Board (GB)

Water Resources Advisory Commission (WRAC)

 

     

 

 

 Climate Change Ups Odds Of Heat Waves, Drought

 

 Reporting in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, researchers write that extreme heat waves, such as the one last year in Texas, are 20 times more likely today than they were in the 1960s. NOAA climatologist Tom Peterson discusses what future climate change may bring.

Report nuisance alligators

 

Alligator attacks are rare, but they occur; from 1948 to 2011, there were 335 recorded unprovoked alligator attacks (an average of 5.3 a year) and 22 fatalities in Florida.
Anyone who encounters a nuisance alligator (one that is at least 4 feet long and a threat to humans, pets or property) should call the state's nuisance alligator hot line: 866-FWC-GATOR (866-392-4286).

 

 

 

 Locks Closed On Lake Okeechobee

 

Falling Lake Levels Require Closure of Lake Okeechobee Locks
OKEECHOBEE, FL-The navigation locks along the north shore of Lake Okeechobee will be closed beginning Monday due to lake levels declining below 12 feet NGVD.

The following locks will close:

* S-135 at J&S Fish Camp, Martin County

* S-127 at Buckhead Ridge, Glades County

* S-131 at Lakeport, Glades County

* G-36 at Henry Creek, Okeechobee County

While the navigation locks are out of operation, boaters will continue to have access to Lake Okeechobee from its north shore at local boat ramps. The locks will be available for boat traffic on July 14 and 15, but will close starting Monday, July 16 until the lake sufficiently rises for safe navigation.

Continued high evapotranspiration rates have resulted in Lake Okeechobee dropping to 11.97 feet NGVD. Despite recent rainfall, the lake is 1.6 feet below the historical average for this time of year. The short-term forecast does not call for significant rain to adequately boost lake levels over the next week.

Boaters should also note the status of other navigation locks in the area:

* The S-193 Lock, located on Taylor Creek on the north shore of Lake Okeechobee, is closed due to ongoing renovation work to refurbish the lock and ensure decades of reliable service.

* The S-310 navigation lock on the south shore at Clewiston is currently secured in the open position.

* Navigation locks operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which includes locks in the Caloosahatchee River and St. Lucie Canal, are also impacted by declining water levels. Information on those navigation locks is available by calling the Corps' South Florida Operations Office at 863-983-8101.

For a guide to recreation sites on Lake Okeechobee, including boat ramps and public parks, please visit the District's website at www.sfwmd.gov/recreation. For more information, please call the SFWMD Okeechobee Service Center at 863-462-5260, or the Orlando Service Center at 407-858-6100.

 

 

 

Power plants are the nation's largest polluter of carbon dioxide emissions. Contact EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and urge the agency to finalize strong standards to curb industrial carbon pollution!
Take Action Today!

 

 Lee County favors plan to help Caloosahatchee River 

 

Written byKevin Lollar- news-press

 

 

While some environmental organizations spoke against a possible plan to help the Caloosahatchee River on Thursday at the South Florida Water Management District meeting in Okeechobee and estuary, Lee County came out in favor of the plan.

 

At issue is how much fresh water should be released from Lake Okeechobee down the river during dry periods - too little fresh water in the river causes various environmental problems, including die-offs of tape grass, an important part of the river's ecosystem.

 

Water district staff explained a plan to the district's Governing Board that would pump water from south of the lake back into the lake and then release some of that water down the Caloosahatchee.

 

The plan would be a temporary solution because it would only last until methods are implemented to store water for the Caloosahatchee, such as the C-43 reservoir, which will store 55 billion gallons of water just south of the Caloosahatchee in Hendry County.

 

Environmental groups said that this "water supply augmentation," also known as back-pumping, would increase nutrients, and therefore algal blooms, in the lake, would decrease dissolved oxygen in the lake and would reduce water going to water conservation areas, stormwater treatment areas and Everglades National Park south of the lake.

 

 

Dan Delisi, Southwest Florida's representative on the district's Governing Board, said the board should not dismiss the idea simply because back-pumping in the past caused environmental problems in the lake.

 

Speaking for Lee County, Kurt Harclerode, operations manager for the county's Division of Natural Resources, said the district should implement the plan and that the various groups must make trade-offs...

 

 

 

After lengthy public comment, the Governing Board decided to take the issue up again in its August meeting.

 

 

 

Lee County favors plan to help Caloosahatchee River 

 

www.calusablueway.com